And that's all without the Galaxy S IV even; Samsung is almost even with Apple in profitability

While reviewers were generally enthusiastic, but a bit critical of Samsung Electronics Comp., Ltd.'s (KSC:005930) hot new flagship phone -- the Galaxy S IV -- the company has little to feel bad about currently. Even without the GSIV anchoring its Android tag team, Samsung managed to crush rival Apple, Inc. (AAPL) in unit sales and deliver a fiscal performance that blew past analyst estimates.

The high profit was a bit of a surprise -- a survey of 10 analysts by UK-based Financial Times, a Pearson PLC unit (LON:PSON), found an expectation of 8.0T won ($7.2B USD) in profit. A newer compilation by Bloomberg of 39 analysts' predictions showed an average expectation for 8.4T won ($7.6B USD) in profit.

Instead, Samsung delivered 8.8T won ($7.9B USD) profit, up over 50 percent from the 5.7T won ($5.1B USD) profit it posted in the first calendar quarter of 2012 and 10 percent better than the early analyst estimates. The Android mobile division drove the big win. 6.51T won ($5.7B USD) of the profit -- nearly three-quarters -- came from the mobile unit. Total revenue came in at 52.87T won ($47.6B USD). These figures were in line with Samsung's estimate released near the start of the month.

After years of Apple fans and shareholders mocking Samsung as "less profitable", Samsung is almost even with Apple in profitability. Apple reported its first quarter results at the start of the week, announcing its first YOY decline in profit in a decade.

Apple has seen its momentum halted by the death of its iconic leader Steven P. Jobs (in 2011) and then by disappointment over the iPhone 5 sales growth and hardware. Google meanwhile has surged as Apple's court bid to ban Android stalled [1][2], and as its OEM partners pounced on Apple in terms of hardware offerings. Stock and profit for Apple are riding at recent lows. Apple's supporters point to new products and refreshes, optimistically -- but Samsung is boasting the same upcoming events (see: Samsung Smart Watch, for example).

Here's a quick recap on how the two companies are stacking up:

Samsung appears poised to potentially pass Apple in profit in Q2. And early indications show that if the Galaxy S IV has any problem it will be in being unable to keep up with wild demand.

The phone is launching in coming weeks on 327 mobile carriers in 155 countries, backed by a massive global advertising campaign that kicked off this week. In the U.S. Samsung has paired with top brick-and-mortar electronics retailer Best Buy Comp., Inc. (BBY) to set up "mini-stores" promoting the phone within Best Buy's retail locations.